Re: Paul Ryan, VP

As Chase says, a truly excellent, exellent selection by Mitt Romney. Paul Ryan is the whole package: budgetarily brilliant at a time when our deficits are at the existential crisis level, he also effectively encapsulates  conservative principles in real world policies and ably communicates and defends those principles. He also has that indefinable 'aw shucks' everyman demeanor that at once attracts people to him and blunts the inevitable cartoonish demonization that will pour out of the Left.

All of this bodes well for our prospects this fall, but I am more enthused about our prospects long term. The one thing about Romney that worried me was what kind of legacy his (hopefully) 8 years would leave behind. If his administration persisted in glossing over the differences of the parties, as has been the Republican default mode in power (see e.g. Trent Lott's willingness to share power with Democrats in 2002 when we had a Senate majority), then I foresaw serious problems in 2020 for anyone running conservative. The 'brand' would be enervated in the public mind, and the Dems would have an opening to regain power and reverse any gains we will have made.  

Think I worry too much? Well, you must not have lived through the Bush 41 years when that man managed to deplete the good will and political capital left over from the Reagan years. Let's see, you are the appointed heir to the man and the policies that brought about the biggest single economic expansion in human history and the fall of the the Berlin Wall and the historic collapse of 20th century Communism. Then you prosecute and win the first major war since World War II with the backing of nearly the entire world in a brilliant display of diplomatic prowess. Astonishingly, however, Bush through all these advantages away when he caved to the Democrats braying away in Congress and raised taxes in an infamous betrayal of promises he made in 1988. And to seal his own fate, Bush then crafted a reelection campaign with the theme 'The Education President?' The bold colors of the Reagan years are now the grey and greyer of the Bush years, and an obscure Governor from an obscure state does the typical Democrat two-step (prevarication and demonization) and beats him soundly in 1992.

But, as Doris Day told us, what will be, will be.